This week we’ve decided to give you a roundup of some new articles that do a lot of different things. It’s been a busy week and we didn’t want you to miss out on some important and helpful information that’s been popping out of Mashable in particular. So, in an old fashion tip of the hat to Mashable, we present you with some of this great content getting you up to speed on what’s up with all of these different platforms.

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What’s Up With Smartphones? Well, we’ve got tips for you to make your app more discoverable. It has to do with optimization, in-bound leads, and customer reviews. Oh by the way, soon your phone may be able to tell you when you’re sick. When will we see the phone that tells you what the right thing to do is?

What’s With Facebook? They’re experimenting with comment ads. This is an interesting move, and is a nifty new idea that you may want to start considering. With this addition to the ad strategy, en element of engagement is instantiated that wasn’t present before.

What’s Up With LinkedIn? They’re perpetually getting better, and now they’re using column ads and profile promotions to encourage follows and recommendations, similar to some of the features on Facebook’s right hand interface column. Imagine, on the side of your LinkedIn page, “you might be interested in applying for this job”.

You’ve probably heard us (and the world) mention QR codes for some time now, and usually in reference to larger companies. The quick of it is this: QR codes (“Quick Response codes”) are bar codes, but they can be read vertically and horizontally, which allows them to hold much more information. The code can be read by a dedicated QR scanner–but if you don’t walk around with one of those, you can also use an easy-to-get app on your smartphone (phew!). The code itself has an encoded web address, text, or some other extra, often QR-specific feature. It’s an off-line way to get to unique online content.

Though QR codes have been active in Japan for over a decade, the technology has only recently reached the US and is trickling down to the small business sphere as well. So what we’ve done here is collected some articles to introduce you to QR codes, what they can do for you, and how effective they are. And of course, examples.

Who’s really scanning QR Codes? This survey puts QR codes to the test. How many people are using QR codes? What operating systems are they using to scan? How has usage grown? In neato graphic form too!

Examples

5 Unique Uses For QR Codes. More in the “how to do it” department. None of these ideas are up in the articles above, showcasing the vast possibilities for this kind of technology. In other words, don’t count it out just yet.

Best Buy Mood QR Codes Best Buy has done something interest and used QR codes internally for HR purposes–”how do you feel today?”. In addition, there’s a way cool video showing real time customer QR code scans for all Best Buy stores across the country.

Convinced? Do it.

QR Code Generator. This is one of many different QR generators, but try it out and tell us how it works for you.

Finding a QR Code Generator. A review of a few generators, as well as some really crucial tips in what type of content to encode and where to throw your QR codes.

The Next Generation, iQR Codes

iQR Codes. Unfortunately, in the technology world things move at a fast pace. iQR codes have a higher data capacity, can be rectangular, and can be printed even smaller. Though currently not used for marketing purposes, the development of iQR codes (or Intelligent Quick Response) might be something to keep an eye on over the next few years.

With a good Texan salutation, we move on to this week’s Friday blog post, in which we cover some new stuff with Facebook. No, we won’t be covering the “shift+enter” complaints or the “memorable status updates” (Watch your words! Facebook never forgets!), but we do have some articles that should prove a tasty treat for those of you with a sixth basic taste of business. So what can Facebook do for you today? Let’s see:

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What’s New With Facebook

Facebook Expands Tagging to Include Comments: The same “@” sign that you’ve been using to link events, people, and pages is being expanded into virtually any place you can enter text on Facebook, which, if you’re the taggable brand, is good news for you.

4 Facebook E-Commerce Tips for Brands: a lot of businesses use Facebook to sell directly rather than as a referral tool. If you’re doing this or this idea sounds appealing to you, here are some good tips on doing it right.

Yes, Facebook Is A Viable Marketing Strategy For Startups: There is some concern among “the they” that Facebook is no longer– or at least will soon no longer be—fashionable or effective. Nick O’neill calls them out and argues that Facebook is still the number one marketing channel and is “practically mandatory” for online startups.

Why You Need Facebook’s Like Button On Your Site: We probably don’t need to beat you over the head with this idea for you to know its importance. But really, you should do it. The article has some resources and fully explains the awesome functionality of the “like”.

Ever wonder how to social media? Yes, it’s true, we’ve taken the liberty of verbing “social media”, but it’s in the spirit of the slew of How-To articles we’ve provided for you this week. We’re particularly excited because we decided to introduce some things Neovia hasn’t touched on much, including 2d codes and customer events.

Then we’ve got the most recent takes on bettering your business approach to two key players, Facebook and Foursquare. And don’t fear redundancy. The social media world is so rapidly changing (and we get you the sizzling hot new stuff) that every new article hits a new beat. So this next week, we’ve got the “how-to”, you’ve got the “do”. Until next time, von boyage!

How To Develop Ideas That Will Disrupt Your Industry.“In 2003, Jonah Staw was having dinner with some friends in a trendy restaurant in San Francisco when the discussion turned to what he calls “disruptive business ideas.” Suggestions were flying left and right, and at one point, someone asked, ‘How crazy would it be if some company started selling socks that didn’t match?’”

How To: Grow Your Revenue and Sales using 2d Codes.“By now, you’re probably already familiar with 2D codes. They’re the square boxes that are showing up on ads, posters and billboards that connect people to mobile sites for more product information…Here’s a primer and some key examples of how top companies are using 2D codes to improve business.”

How To Host a Customer Events.“Events for customers are a throwback to the days when a handshake was more meaningful than a text alert. An event done right can be just as valuable today, but done wrong can be an expensive cocktail party.”

This week we’re giving you some content for some of the key social media outlets–Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and general blogging tips. In addition, this week we’re presenting you with some additional tools, including a list of 40 not-too-shabby articles, followed by two successful models from which we thought you might want to draw some inspiration.

So be on the lookout every week for news, tips from pros, reviews, emerging technology, and a whole bundle of thought-provoking articles on this ever-developing, exciting world of social media.

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Tips on the Big Ones.

LinkedIn:5 Ways to Use LinkedIn Groups to Build Influential Connections—In a social network of professionals, it’s incredibly useful to become a positive personality, and to continually add value to those in your field. But it can be an intimidating task. This article gets past a few of those apprehensions and makes getting started that much easier.

Twitter:Twitter For Brands: 6 Winning Strategies To Learn From—At the core of successful twitter campaigns is always a personality, which is something that should stick with you. That said, building on this fact can really do some social media wonders, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Facebook:5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns—Geolocation is in. But while we often see Foursquare campaigns take off, it’s not as often we see Places campaigns do the same (take a look at that University of Kentucky campaign–great, great stuff!). Let it be a lesson, I suppose. All of these tools can be powerful ones if you’ve got the right person, mindset behind the wheel. So we encourage taking a look at this one.

How the NCAA Stays On Top of the Social Media Game—This story illustrates the usefullness and rational behind having a social media policy. After some of the trouble we’ve seen professional athletes get themselves in through Twitter and other outlets, it’s no surprise the NCAA attempt to regulate social media use to keep a level playing field for recruitment.

Disney: Doing Social Right: Disney is adding 5 million fans a week to their array of 200 Facebook pages. We know. It’s hard to compete with Disney. But if you can’t beat ‘em, “like” ‘em, and find out what they’re doing right (which seems to be quite a bit).

Happy New Year’s Eve, world! We hope your year is seeing its way out in good health and spirit. This will be our last roundup of 2010, but we’ve got 52 more to look forward to next year. So stay tuned and we’ll keep rounding up the top stories in the social media world to help you stay up to speed with trends and developments that will enhance your online marketing strategy and experience.

This week we take out our crystal ball and talk 2011. What can we expect or hope to see in the coming year? This year brought surprises, and we can only expect more in the coming months, so we look at what people are saying about digital advertising, news media, small business, and lastly, of course, social media. Needless to say, there are a lot of exciting prospects, so we’ll be interested to see how it all pans out.

Be on the lookout every week in 2011 for news, tips from pros, reviews, emerging technology, and a whole bundle of thought-provoking articles on this ever-developing, exciting world of social media. Have a safe, fantastic holiday.

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10 Predictions For the News Media in 2011: Predictions galore, including some of the following—social media optimization will challenge SEO, mobile-first news organizations will emerge, interactive tv will rise up, and more niche content news sites will develop.

Email, Social Media to See More Marketing Dollars in 2011: “According to a November 2010 survey of business executives around the globe by StrongMail, nearly two-thirds of companies will increase spending on email marketing, and 57% will put more dollars toward social media marketing. Search took a distant third place with 41% of respondents indicating they would spend more.”

Life has a tendency to get in the way. You may have an incredible business idea carefully crafted in your mind and when you go to implement it, Ted from accounting is intent on walking all over it or your boss dumps more work on your desk or you sit down on your couch one day to find that you haven’t had a date in three years.

Or something like that.

Sometimes we can’t go out and leave our vibrant, colorful marks on the world if our personal/work lives are keeping us from reaching our full potential. Sometimes the stress from navigating our relationships in and out of the office can leave us feeling drained and mired down in the usual routine. We have to be our own advocates and de-clutter our lives before we make that big breakthrough in our careers.

Learning how to take care of ourselves is first and foremost and we have a couple of articles that will teach you how to do just that.

Be sure to meet us here every Friday for the latest and greatest in the ever evolving world of social media!

No Stress = Success

Life Planning: What Should You Do With Your Life? It all begins with a plan and that plan needs to be your main focus. When life begins to blur your goals it’s time to reevaluate and determine if your plan is changing. What a person wanted five years ago is usually not what they want five years from now so taking the time to fully develop a current life plan will keep you driven even if you’re dealing with life’s lemons.

How to Delete the Drama from Your LifeNo matter what you, your life will always be surrounded by drama. The key is to keep that drama from contaminating the inner you. Read this article by Scott Ginsberg and learn how to keep the crazy contained.

Please and No Thank You Okay, here’s the deal: life often has a way of trampling all over us is if we’re a little too nice. It’s perfectly okay to say no in certain situations. In fact, doing so may just save your sanity!

10 Ways to Pay it Forward What goes around comes around. Being a big believer in karma, I feel that you can only feel peace in your life when you are willing to give it to others. Hold open the door for someone, smile and wave “hello.” You don’t have to give up everything you own to make someone’s world a little brighter, and in turn, your own. All you have to do is care.

Remember the guy or gal who always had the right answer, always raised his or hand, always seemed to trail your teacher like a lovelorn Yorkie? Back in the day you may have teased the head honcho of your class but if you’re a business owner, there are a few things you can learn from your former classmate besides the proper way to shine an apple.

This week’s social media roundup shines the spotlight on ways to make your company stand out in a sea of small business. From offering impeccable customer service to getting crafty with Christmas, there is a countless number of ways to grab your customers’ attentions and exceed their expectations. No need for the dunce’s cap, my friend.

Be sure to meet us back here every Friday to learn the latest and greatest in ever evolving world of Social Media.

The Most Important Question to Ask Yourself Before Posting ContentContent is king in the world of social media. Even if you have the skills to set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a blog, nobody cares unless you offer them something substantial. If you want your business to deliver killer content, you need to figure out what you stand for because if you don’t know, no one else does either.

Barcode Hero Lets Kids Send Wish Lists to “Santa” I’m not saying you have to create a crazy cool app that lets kids scan the toys they’d like for Christmas so their parents know what Santa should get them like Barcode Hero did, but it would help. Okay, all kidding aside, this article teaches us an important lesson. Thinking outside the box especially around the holidays can get more customers in the door and/or purchasing your product. And that my friends puts the “merry” in “Merry Christmas!”.

10 Burning Questions About Why Some Entrepreneurs Fail and Others Succeed Time for a pop quiz! I’ll wait out the collective groan. Are we good? Great! Now let’s get cracking. This article from Business Insider asks the questions (and gives the answers so put away that cheat sheet) to why some businesses fail and why others stay solid as a rock. If that’s not a test worth taking I don’t know what is.

Christmas bells are ringing with holiday cheer and so is the online world. It’s amazing how social media comes alive especially at times when people are remembering their loved ones and celebrating the season. What better way to connect nowadays than through an online network? Airline tickets are astronomical, traveling in general can get expensive so sometimes the holidays are spent at home. But that’s not all bad considering everyone can keep in touch with family and friends through various social networks.

Gift giving is also becoming more of an online activity considering this past Cyber Monday consumers spent more than $1 billion dollars buying online! There are amazing deals to be had on the worldwide web, but there are also other advantages to shopping from the screen. Sometimes it’s nice to buy gifts from the comfort of your own home especially if you’re short on time and have a couple of little ones who aren’t keen on standing in line.

It seems the online world has a little something for everyone this holiday season and we’ve added links that won’t disappoint. Be sure to check out the article about the Santa Tracker!

And remember to visit us here every Friday at the Neovia Solutions Blog to read the latest and greatest in social media.

Holiday Marketing, A Few Favorite ThingsThe holiday season isn’t just for consumers, it’s a happy time of year for businesses too. This article from Small Business Trends shows ways businesses can connect with their costumers. From Christmas cards to coupons, there’s a way to keep your company cheerful all season long!

Got Stress? Here’s a Holiday Tip The holiday season can be merry but as everyone knows it can also be stressful, especially if you’re a business owner. Read this article to find reasons to be thankful and ways to ease seasonal tension.

With the advent of Facebook, a subculture has been carefully crafted, one in which lives are lived and quickly documented for all of the world to witness. I’m talking photos.

As humans, we’re visual creatures, taking the world in through our baby blues in order to process it in our own way. Therefore, it’s critically important that social media offers us enough visual stimulation to stay interested and ever ready to assimilate knew information. Business owners listen up! If you want your consumers to connect with your brand, don’t be stingy with the camera.

From beautiful still life portraits shot and edited on sites like Picnik to on the go pictures taken with your iPhone, photography is yet another tool that makes our social media space that much more appealing.

If you’re looking to spruce up your blog, fill up your photo album on your Fan page or offer your Twitter followers behind the scenes pics of your smoothly run business, then check out the following articles and get snap happy!

And remember to visit us here every Friday at the Neovia Solutions Blog to read the latest and greatest in social media.

Flickr Invites Users to Find Their Facebook FriendsYou’ll need a place to store all of your newly snapped photos so why not try a site that will not only take care of your storing needs but connects you to a network of budding photographers like yourself? Flickr is now suggesting “people you may know” to their users, a function that keeps people connected and increases photo sharing capabilities.

Picture This Need to know where to find photos if you don’t have time to take them yourself? Want to learn a little more about copyright laws when it comes to photo use? Want links to great photo editing sites? Then please read this article by Scott Monty and tell me how psyched you are to get started!